Chihuahuas take on parent Padres on Thursday

Andrew Miller, a member of the grounds crew at Southwest University Park, waters the grass berm area last week. The El Paso Chihuahuas will kick off their third season with an exhibition game against the San Diego Padres on Thursday night. With the exhibition game, the team will have hosted a total of 73 home games.(Photo11: RUDY GUTIEREZ/EL PASO TIMES)Buy Photo

It almost attacks the senses — the feel of warm breezes and the sun on your face, the smell of hot dogs and popcorn and such, the sounds of the crack of the bat and the smack of ball into glove, the look of joy and awe on children's faces ... the stirrings in the very soul.

Baseball slips in and takes over our senses. Another spring. Another summer right behind. Another season. Hope. Hope for better days, better teams. Expectation. Expectation of relaxed enjoyment in a family night at the ballpark.

El Pasoans will get a look of past and future Chihuahuas when El Paso takes on the Major League parent club San Diego Padres at 6:35 p.m. Thursday in Southwest University Park.

"We are now beginning our third season," Chihuahua general manager Brad Taylor said. "We are working a little differently. We are not the newest thing anymore. Our staff has been working hard to come up with fun, unique, new stuff for our fans. Of course, we will retain some of our popular staples ... like fireworks Saturday nights and Bark in the Park days. But we want to stay fresh, keep people filling this park."

And that is exactly what El Pasoans have done over the past two seasons. This Triple-A baseball team, this team of young men on the verge of the big stage, just one phone call from The Show, has drawn over a million fans ... 1,139,949 to be exact.

El Paso was third in the 16-team Pacific Coast League in attendance in 2015 with 578,952, an average of 8,154 each night. Only Sacramento with 672,354 and Round Rock with 595,012 were better. El Paso was fourth in the PCL in attendance in 2014 with 560,997, an average of 7,901, just behind Albuquerque in third with 564,625. And the Chihuahuas would have been third if they had not had to play their first four home games in Tucson while Southwest University Park was being finished.

But that park was worth the wait.

The beautifully constructed Downtown stadium has drawn consistent praise as a mini-major league stadium.

New manager Rod Barajas said, "Jamie (Quirk, the second Chihuahua manager) said this is like the big leagues. Murph (Pat Murphy, the team's first manager) said it was like winter ball, that the passion of the fans from the first pitch to the last is unbelievable."

Last year's Chihuahua team entertained the fans until the final out, coming from behind to win the PCL Pacific Southern Division on the final night. Fans might be able to expect more good times — both in the stands and on the field — in 2016.

"El Paso will have big league caliber, legitimate prospects," San Diego general manager A.J. Preller said. "I think we will have a good team down there."

There will be an El Paso connection both at the Major League and Triple-A levels. San Diego's new manager Andy Green played for the El Paso Diablos in the Texas League in 2003, hitting .302 in 126 games. And, of course, Barajas played for the Texas League Diablos in 1999, hitting .318 with 14 home runs and 95 runs batted in.

"I take a lot of pride in my job," Barajas said. "My job is to make sure these guys are prepared and ready whenever when they are called up to the majors and hopefully the guys don't come back down. Spring training is great. People are fighting for jobs and roster spots. Everybody is excited and looking forward to every single day. For me, I get to come out here every day, live out my childhood dreams and be part of the greatest game in the world."

Barajas is young at 40, yet experienced with 14 years in the Major Leagues, some time as a coach and serving last year as the manager of the Padres' Double-A team, San Antonio.

"We've got a great new manager in Rod Barajas," Taylor said. "He has great Major League experience and he has managerial experience and he has a good personality to fit in this city."

El Pasoans will get a first look at Barajas and the Chihuahuas and also an up-close look at the Major League San Diego Padres on Thursday night. The team will start the regular season Friday, April 7, in Reno. They will play April 7-10 in Reno and then move over to play April 11-14 in Tacoma, Wash.

And then another season will begin at Southwest University Park. The home opener is Friday night, April 15, against Reno.

It is the summer game, the home for the boys of summer and it has been around, tantalizing our imagination and tickling our senses for nearly 150 years. When the umpire yells, "Play ball," and the pitcher steps onto the rubber to make that first pitch, anything is possible. Hope is your very real friend.

The game, after all, slips in and attacks your senses. You can feel it, you can smell it, you can hear it, you can see it and it snuggles down into your very soul.